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Metamorphosis (Episode)
"Metamorphosis" is the second episode in the first season of Smallville, and second episode overall. It aired on October 23, 2001. Summary Greg Arkin has a passion for insects and Lana Lang. When meteor rock-infected bugs swarm him, he takes on insectoid characteristics. Clark wakes up to find himself floating above his bed. Lex tries to help Clark woo Lana by giving him her necklace. Clark discovers that he can protect himself from its effects with lead. Greg kidnaps Lana, and Clark battles Greg to rescue her. Recap Lana is dropped off after the homecoming dance. As she prepares for bed, she finds a box in her bedroom. When she opens it, butterflies surround her. Outside in a tree, Greg Arkin, a boy from school, is watching her through a window and recording her with a video camera. When he goes home, he fights with his mom, who found another videotape of Lana. She threatens to ship him off to military school. Greg is an avid collector of insects. He loads up part of his collection into his car, presumably to release them, but he hits a bump and the jar containing the insects breaks. They swarm around Greg, apparently biting him, until he crashes his car. He screams as they continue to attack. The next morning, Mrs. Arkin enters his room to find all the cages are empty. She doesn't notice her son stuck to the ceiling with a web-like material. Clark Kent is dreaming of flying. He flies into Lana's house and floats over her bed; she wakes up and tells him, "It's all your fault." Clark wakes up in his own house, floating above his bed. He tells his dad he woke up floating, but Jonathan says he can't provide any explanation, but they will deal with whatever comes their way. At the farmer's market, Clark confronts Whitney Fordman, who tells him the Scarecrow incident was a joke. Whitney asks for Lana's necklace, but Clark doesn't have it. Meanwhile, Lana runs into Greg, who asks her for help on a school assignment. Lex Luthor is also at the market. He notices Clark's interest in Lana and asks him about the previous night in the cornfield. Greg ambushes Whitney in his truck on his way home. The Kents drive up on the accident and Clark saves Whitney before his truck exploded and covered the two in flames. Martha and Jonathan were relieved they were safe but shocked to find Clark completely unharmed. Lana is riding at the stables and Lex meets her after she finishes. When he tries to introduce himself, she says they've already met. She explains that when she was ten she went to Metropolis for a riding competition. Lex's father invited her and her aunt to stay with them and use the indoor pool, where she found Lex and another girl skinny-dipping. Lex sees a photo of Lana wearing her necklace. He finds out that she gave it to her boyfriend Whitney. Lex knows that it ended up around Clark's neck in a cornfield, so he suggests to Lana that she ask Whitney where he was before the homecoming game. Greg's mother comes home to find the thermostat set to 103 degrees. Some of the walls are covered with webs. Greg explains that he is planning to eat, then molt then mate. Then he explains that the pharaoh spider kills its mother after it hatches. Lex gives Clark Lana's necklace. It makes Clark sick, but Lex shuts it up in a lead box and Clark doesn't feel its effects anymore. Clark doesn't want to take it, but Lex persuades him to use the necklace to woo Lana. At school, Lana confronts Whitney about the prank on Clark and requests her necklace back. Whitney says he lost it, and she walks away. She passes Greg, who reminds her about helping him with the assignment. Lana tells him she's busy, that she has to see Clark. Clark experiments with the meteor rock in the lead box before Lana finds him in the barn and apologizes for Whitney. When she admires his loft, Clark says that his dad built and calls it his "Fortress of Solitude". Clark skips this opportunity to return her necklace. Greg molts in the shower and then goes to the barn to attack Clark. Jonathan is there and is nearly killed, but Clark saves him. Clark recognizes Greg and Martha remembers they used to be friends. Clark admits to his father that he feels responsible for all the weird things that have happened in Smallville since the meteor shower. Chloe finds an article about Amazonian tribesmen who take on characteristics of insects after being bitten by them. She deduces that meteor rock-infected bugs must have bitten Greg and turned him into a "bug-boy." Pete and Clark talk about how they used to be close friends with Greg in grade school. He had a tree-house near the foundry but Pete remembers that Clark always got sick when they played there. Clark, Chloe, and Pete go to Greg's house to investigate and find a mess: pieces of Greg's skin in the shower, a video of Lana and the corpse of his mother. They deduce that Greg will come after Lana next and go to try and save her. Whitney tries to apologize to Lana and Greg appears and throws him across the barn. When Clark arrives, Whitney tells him that Greg has kidnapped Lana and headed off into the woods. Clark deduces that Greg took her to the tree-house. He gives Whitney directions and takes off at super speed. At the tree-house, Clark finds Lana in a cocoon. Clark and Greg battle from the tree house to the Creekside Foundry. The place is littered with meteor rocks, which weaken Clark until he realizes that lead shields him from its effects. Clark finds Greg and throws him across the room. Greg then is squashed when some heavy equipment falls on him. Back at the tree-house, Whitney rescues Lana and they walk away with their arms around each other. That night, Clark leaves Lana's necklace on her front doorknob. Cast Starring *Clark Kent *Lana Lang *Lex Luthor *Whitney Fordman *Pete Ross *Chloe Sullivan *Martha Kent *Jonathan Kent Guest Starring *Greg Arkin *Mrs. Arkin Spoilers * Lex tells Clark that he got the lead box from his mother. It is seen in the season 3 episode Memoria that Lionel gave him the box after his 12th birthday party. Lionel explains that Lex's mother wanted to give him the box in person, but as a result of her difficult pregnancy, needed to rest. * Clark is seen floating in this episode. Allusions * This episode shares its name with a book about a man named Gregor Samsa who inexplicably transforms into a giant beetle. It was written by Kafka, who was also mentioned in the episode. * When Greg gets his powers, the song playing is "Last Resort" by the group "Papa Roach". Ironically enough, roach is a kind of a bug, and he is bitten by bugs. * Greg is also seen driving a VW Beetle. Locations * Smallville ** Kent Farm *** Kent House *** Kent Loft ** Smallville High School *** Smallville Torch ** Luthor Mansion ** Arkin house ** Stables ** Creekside Foundry Category:Episodes Category:Smallville Episodes Category:Smallville Season 1 Episodes